Part of a collection containing approximately 1200 student drawings from the University of Washington Department of Architecture from its inception in 1914 until 1961 when the Department of Architecture had completely phased out all elements of the Beaux Arts system and became the College of Architecture and Urban Planning.

Sketch problem. Watercolor perspective of the interior of a library reading room. The modernist style room has a wall of square windows opposite a bookshelf-lined wall with desks and seating in the center area.

Frederick Bassetti received his B.Arch from the University of Washington in 1942, and his M.Arch from Harvard University in 1946. Following his studies at UW, he completed an apprenticeship under Paul Thiry, 1943; and with Alvar Aalto in Cambridge, Massachussets, 1946. He returned to Seattle in 1946 as a Designer for Naramore, Bain, Brady, & Johanson [NBBJ], Seattle, 1946-1947, before forming his own partnership with John Morse. The partnership, Bassetti and Morse, Architects, Seattle, lasted 1947-1962. The firm received several national and local awards and their work was widely published. Notable works include Lakeview Elementary School on Mercer Island, 1954; Mercer Island High School, 1958; The firm's design of the G. J. Armbruster House in Lake Stevens received an AIA Seattle Honor Award; the Gamma Rho Apartments received the AIA National Grand Honor, 1952; the Gerald Martin House received the AIA National Honor Award, 1954; the Marshall Forrest Residence in Bellingham and the Walter F. Isaacs House in Hilltop both received AIA National Merit Awards, 1953. Bassetti and Morse divided in 1962, and Fred Bassetti organized his own firm, Fred Bassetti and Company, Seattle, in 1962. The firm expanded and in 1982 changed its name to Bassetti/Norton/Metler/Rekevics, Architects. Notable projects of the firm include the Children's Zoo at Woodland Park; the Seattle Federal Building, 1974; the United States Embassy in Portugal, 1979-1983; the Pine Street Substation in Seattle, 1966; the PACCAR Technical Facility at Mount Vernon; and the AT&T Gateway Tower (later Seattle Municipal Tower), 1990. Bassetti became a founding partner of the firm Bassetti Architects before his retirement in 1994. Throughout his career, Bassetti lectured at Columbia University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Rice University, and the University of Washington. He was involved with Allied Arts of Seattle, the Seattle Landmarks Commission, and the Seattle Design Commission, as well as the creator of Action: Better City in the late 1960s. Bassetti served as President of the AIA Seattle Chapter in 1967. He was elected to the AIA College of Fellows in 1967 and awarded the AIA Seattle Medal in 1988. He was nominated for the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1989.